Machine for separating tickets, &amp;c.



No. 806,968. PATENTED" DEC. 12, 1905.

W. A. GIBBS. MACHINE FOR SEPARATING TICKET-S, 6pc;

APPLICATION FILED MAR.27, 1905.

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WITNESSES: m I INVENTOR walbir 0.. bks 4 i zqttys PATENTED DEC. 12, 1905.

W. A. GIBBS. MACHINE FOR SEPARATIN-G- TIG.KBTS,'&0.

APPLICATION FILED MAE.27, 1905.

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FIE-LE- //////fil V/ s- Y LJMM XVETNESSE v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALTER A. GIBBS, OF ZANESVILLE, OHIO.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 12, 1905.

Application filed March 27, 1905. Serial No. 252A34.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, WALTER A. GIBBS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Zanesville, in the county of Muskingum and State of Ohio, have invented or discovered .certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Separating Tickets, 850., of which improvements the following is a specification.

he invention described herein relates to certain improvements in apparatus for counting street-car tickets, coupons, &c., or other like articles, and has for its object a construction whereby such tickets, &c., are removed rapidly one by one from a pile or mass of the same, transferred to another suitable mechanism preferably constructed for mutilating the tickets, and by their passage through such mechanism a recording device is operated through the conjoint action of such mechanism and the ticket, 860.

The invention is hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved ticket-counting mechanism. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is a top plan view with the feed-bed removed, and Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation on a plane indicated by the line IV IV, Fig. 2.

In the practice of my invention a bundle or stack of tickets are arranged between suitable guides 1 on a plate or table 2 and are gradually pushed forward by a moving head 3 toward and against a revolving pin 4. A suitable means for operating the head 3 consists of a threaded shaft 5, driven by any suitable meansas, for example, the wormgears 6 and 7, operated from the drivingshaft 8. Connection between the shaft and the head 3 is preferably formed by a threaded block 9, carried by a pin 10, vertically movable through the head and adapted to be locked in position in and out of engagement with the screw by a key 11 engaging grooves in the pin, as shown in Fig. 4. The separating-pin 4 is connected to a revolving shaft 12, preferably driven at a high speed by a suitable motoras, for example, an electric motor connected by a belt to the pulley 13 on said shaft. The pin is preferably connected to the shaft by a suitable clutch, so that it may be removed for renewal or repair. On this pin is formed a thread preferably having a pitch not greater than the thickness of the ticket or other article to be counted. The

' both of the rolls.

thread terminates abruptly and forms at the end of the pin a radial cutting edge, so that a ticket or other article will not be perforated and. drawn onto the screw by the action of the latter, but requires for the perforation of the ticket and its engagement by the screw the conjoint action of the revolving pin and the pressure of the moving head 3. In practice the feed movement of the block and the rotation of the pin 4 are so regulated with reference one to the other that while the head is moving forward a distance equal to the thickness of a ticket or other article the screw will have rotated several times, preferably about fifteen or twenty, so that from the time one ticket is perforated to the time the next ticket is perforated the first perforated ticket will have advanced the distance fifteen or twenty threads along the screw and be separated by such distance from others in the pack.

A suitable means is employed for tearing the ticket from the screw or pin, thereby 1nutilating the same, and also for recording the fact that a ticket has been taken from the pack and mutilated. This recording mechanism is preferably so constructed as to necessitate the presence of the ticket in order to operate the recording mechanism.

In the construction shown I employ two rolls 14 and 15, arranged in such relation to the screw that the ticket will after advancing a certain distance along the screw be turned down by the action of the screw or pin'in between the rollers, so as to be caught by the latter. As shown, these rolls are arranged at right angles, or approximatelyso, to the pin 4 and with their bite in a plane cutting the screw adjacent to its rear end or adjacent to the clutch 14. The screw is rotated so as to throw the corner of the ticket in between the rolls when the ticket shall have advanced sufiiciently far to clear a supporting-ledge 16, arranged to prevent the rotation of the ticket with the screw during a certain traverse thereof along the screw. By the operation of these rolls the ticket is torn off of the pin or screw, and thereby mutilated. In order to count the tickets, a finger 17 projects down through a pass formed by grooving one or The finger is made of such transverse dimensions as regards the grooves or pass that when no ticket is passing between the rolls the latter will not exert any pull whatsoever on the finger, which, as shown, is arranged in the path of the portion of the ticket moving along the supportingledge 16. As the ticket is drawn in between the rolls it is caused to pass between one edge of this finger and one of the rolls, thereby causing said rolls, one directly and the other through the medium of the ticket, to take a frictional grip on the finger and pull it down against the tension of the spring 18. As soon as the ticket has passed beyond the rolls the spring Will restore the finger to normal position. This finger is connected, as shown, to the operating-arm of any suitable counting mechanism, as indicated at 20. It will be readily understood by those skilled in the art that the counting mechanism can be operated only when a ticket is passing be tween the rollers, so that the latter will take a grip upon the actuating-finger.

While 'not necessary, it is preferred to operate the screw 5 for shifting the head 3 and the rollers from the shaft 12, to which the separating-screw is attached.

It is characteristic of my improvement that each ticket is engaged by the separating device at a point inside of its periphery, shifted along from remaining tickets, and then removed from the separating device, its removal involving the operation of a counter. As the tickets are advanced to be caught by the separating device a distance equal to their thickness during a certain predetermined separating movement of such device, and as such separating device is not operative to engage a ticket except through the conjoint action of the pressing-head therewith, it is obvious that only one ticket or other ar ticle can be removed at a time.

The separating device can be operated at a very high speed by the employment of a suitable motor, and the movement of the pressing-head can be correspondingly quick; but its advance should be slower than the movement of the ticket by the separating device.

I claim herein as my invention 1. A machine for separating tickets, &c., having in combination means for removing a ticket from others in a pack or pile and means for registering such shifting of the ticket operative by the ticket after its removal from the pack or pile.

2. A machine for separating tickets, &c., having in combination means for engaging a ticket or other article, means for moving such ticket away from others of the pack or pile and a counter operative by the ticket after removal from the pack or pile.

3. A machine for separating tickets, &c.,

having in combination means for engaging a ticket or other article, means for moving the ticket away from others in the pile or pack, and means for mutilating the ticket.

4. A machine for separating tickets, &c., having in combination means for engaging a ticket, means for moving the ticket away from others in the pile or pack, means for mutilating the ticket and a counter operative by the ticket.

5. A machine for separating tickets, 850., having in combination a revolving pin, means for forcing a ticket onto the pin, and means for moving the ticket along the pin.

6. A machine for separating tickets, &c., having in combination a revolving pin, means for forcing a ticket onto the pin, and means for moving the ticket along the pin a rate higher than its movement onto the pin.

7. A machine for separating tickets, &c., having in combination a revolving pin, means for forcing a ticket onto the pin, means for moving the ticket along the pin, and means for pulling the ticket off of the pin.

8. A machine for separating tickets, 850., having in combination a revolving pin, means for forcing a ticket onto the pin, means for moving the ticket along the pin, and a pair of rollers for pulling the ticket from the pin.

9. A machine for separating tickets, &c., having in combination a revolving pin, means for forcing a ticket onto the pin, and a pair of rollers arranged in such relation to the pin that the ticket is shifted by the pin into the bite of the rolls.

10. A machine for separating tickets, &c., having in combination means for removing tickets one at a time from a pack or pile, a pair of rollers, a rod extending loosely between the rolls and a counter operative by said rod.

11. A machine for separating tickets, &c., having in combination a revolving screw, means for forcing a ticket onto the screw, a pair of rollers arranged to pull a ticket from the screw and provided with a pass or opening between them, a rod extending loosely through the pass or opening and a counter operative by said rod.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

WALTER A. GIBBS.

'Witnesses CnARLEs BARNETT, HERBERT BRADLEY. 

